Brazil Real Notes Show Optimism Smart Money Rejects: Currencies

Individual investors are buying record amounts of notes betting that Brazil’s real will continue its world-beating advance amid speculation the Federal Reserve will keep pumping money into the global economy into 2014.

The demand runs counter to the outlook from professional strategists, who predict a 5 percent drop in the real by the end of March. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) led $73.5 million of real-linked U.S. structured-note sales this year, surpassing the $66.5 million issued in 2011 when the real strengthened to a 12-year high, data compiled by Bloomberg show.